The Cheep Spinner - Build Your Own Arcade Controls FAQ

47 Pages·2012·1.85 MB·English

How to build
What is the Cheep Spinner?
The Cheep Spinner is my solution to the question: “Just how am I supposed to
play Tempest* without real arcade controls?” (*or any other games using spinners)
After looking into the different options - from buying a real arcade spinner to the
various online build-it-yourself plans - I decided to design and build my own
spinner control.
The project had several goals: 1) it had to work well 2) it had to be relatively easy
to build 3) it had to be sturdy 4) it had to be made out of commonly available
parts, and 5) it had to be dirt cheap. Good dirt, but dirt nonetheless.
Anyway, this PDF guide goes through the process step-by-step. It may not be the
easiest spinner to build, but it’s certainly one of the cheapest, and it works great!
I hope you get as much satisfaction out of building one as I did.
The plans for the Cheep Spinner are available exclusively from Cheep Technology.
You are welcome to download and print out these instructions for your own use,
but please contact me if you wish to post these plans on a website.
Thank you, and enjoy using your Cheep Spinner - the only build-it-yourself spinner
project with a little chicken for a mascot.
Nathan Strum
[email protected]
http://www.cheeptech.com/
“Cheep Technology”, “Cheep Spinner”, “Cheep” and all materials in this PDF document are © 2000 Nathan Strum
Games and products listed are copyrighted by the companies that own them
How to build
Table of contents
1 Introduction
The story behind the Cheep Spinner.
2 Table of contents
This page. Where to find stuff.
3 How the thing works
More than you probably want to know about mice.
4 Frequently asked questions
The only stupid questions are those that go unasked... those and “got any romz dood?”
5 Tools you’ll need
Hopefully you’ll have most of this stuff around already.
7 Parts list
A few bucks and a trip to the hardware store and Radio Shack will set you up.
9 Building the spinner
How to put together the part that spins - the knob and bearing assembly.
13 Making an encoder wheel
Why make one? Because it works better than the mouse’s. A lot better.
17 Mouse brain surgery
A new encoder wheel means you have to relocate some mouse parts.
24 Finishing it off
Putting it all together.
27 Appendix A - Adding a counterweight
Optional steps for giving it that real arcade “feel”.
28 Appendix B - Relubricating the spinner
How to make it work like new, again and again.
29 Appendix C - Game settings
Suggested settings for some MacMAME games that make good use of the spinner.
34 Appendix D - Encoder wheels
Printable encoder wheels for use with this project.
35 Appendix E - Making an encoder wheel: the hard way
Use this method if you don’t own a Dremel. It works, but it’s time-consuming.
39 Appendix F - Control panel mounting
Super-easy instructions on how to mount the Cheep Spinner in a control panel.
42 Appendix G - Adding arcade fire buttons
Hooking up real arcade fire buttons to the Cheep Spinner.
47 Appendix H - Variations on a theme
The original prototype, plus a version that’s ADB and USB all in one.
2
How the thing works
How mice (or mouses) work Figure 1
A mouse rides on a ball, that turns two wheels (called encoder
wheels) around, and the spokes in those wheels interrupt an infrared
signal being sent from a transmitter to a receiver (figure 1). How
often this signal gets interrupted lets the computer know how fast
the mouse is moving.
The receiver actually has two infrared detectors in it - usually one
at the top, and one at the bottom (although they can also be side by
side). As the encoder wheels move, the infrared signal can either be
detected by both detectors, one of them, or neither of them, depending
on how much of the signal gets blocked. The order in which this
happens, is how the computer can determine the direction the mouse Transmitter Encoder Receiver
is moving. For example, if the mouse only sees a signal at the top
detector (figure 2), and then sees a signal at both detectors (figure
3), then the computer knows that the encoder wheel must be moving
down across the face of the detector. If it detected nothing at figure
3, then it would know that the encoder wheel was moving up instead.
Only two directions are detected per pair of transmitter/receivers.
So there have to be two sets - one for up/down movement, and one
Figure 2
for left/right movement. The computer translates the signals from
the mice into the proper directions on screen. Since the computer
only needs to see one detector turn on or off to determine direction,
very small movements can be accurately reproduced.
Important differences in mice
Not all mice are created equal. Some are more sensitive than others,
and this is where problems arise for a project like this. In the picture
below, there are three encoder wheels, from three different mice.
The more spokes an encoder wheel has, the higher resolution the
mouse is, and the more sensitive it is. (Assuming the wheels are all Transmitter Encoder Receiver
the same size. More on that later.)
The wheel in the middle is from a Umax SuperMac mouse. This
mouse appears to be identical to the single-button ADB mouse that
MacAlly makes, which, according to their website, has a resolution
of 275 dpi. Presumably this means for every inch that the mouse ball
travels, the mouse will detect 275 distinct position changes.
That sounds reasonable anyway.
Figure 3
The SuperMac mouse works perfectly for this spinner project.
The Apple USB hockey-puck mouse (left wheel), quite frankly, stinks.
This is kind of unfortunate, since it’s the mouse I used as an example
in this project when I started working on this guide. It worked so
badly, that I ended up redoing a large part of this guide with a different
USB mouse - the Kensington ValuMouse (the wheel on the right).
Transmitter Encoder Receiver
Left - Apple USB Mouse: 65 spokes
Middle - Umax SuperMac Mouse: 34 spokes
Right - Kensington USB ValuMouse: 36 spokes
3
How the thing works
(continued)
The Kensington mouse worked very well for this project. The reason is resolution. The Kensington mouse is much
lower resolution than the Apple USB mouse, and therefore less sensitive. A higher resolution mouse is designed to
travel a shorter distance for the signal to be interrupted, and more signals get sent for every inch of movement.
Conversely, the fewer spokes there are, the farther the ends of the spokes must travel in order to interrupt the infrared
signal. This is how you can tell mice apart, short of knowing their specifications. Additionally, a larger encoder wheel
also reduces the sensitivity of a mouse, since that will also increase the distance between the ends of the spokes.
Why does this make any difference?
A mouse designed to be moved very short distances doesn’t handle a high rate of speed well. It’s designed to be
moved very little to generate a response. If an encoder wheel is moving too fast, more data gets sent through the
mouse than it can handle. The end result is that when the spinner is spun extremely fast, not every signal gets through
to the computer, and the cursor will hover in place or even move backwards . The effect is similar to the “strobing”
you see on television when car wheels appear to be moving backwards. You generally can’t get a mouse to move that
fast across a desk, but spinners often hit those speeds. Having the cursor “freak out” like this is hardly acceptable in
gaming, so starting out with the right mouse is probably the most important consideration when doing this project.
Since this problem is associated with the design of the mouse itself, software adjustments can’t help much. Some
software (like Kensington’s MouseWorks) actually make the problem worse, by increasing the mouse’s sensitivity.
Low resolution mice seem a lot less prone to this problem than the high resolution ones. This may also have something
to do with how close the decectors are to each other, since in a high resolution mouse, they must be closer together
in order to properly read the much narrower and closer together spokes. Therefore, the receiver may be a lot pickier
about being aligned exactly perpendicular to the spokes, or misreads could occur.
So, what mouse do you get?
If you have an ADB Mac, you can either scrounge up a used Mac clone
mouse (most seem to be the same type), or fork over $16 - $30 for a
MacAlly one. The SuperMac mouse (on the right) works great in the
Cheep Spinner and is the one I used before I got USB in my Mac.
If you need a USB spinner, then the Kensington USB 3 Button ValuMouse
is the clear winner. It costs only $12.99, works great in the spinner and
is really easy to desolder too (which is a big plus).
Avoid Apple’s USB hockey-puck mouse. It’s really terrible. It’s too bad
though, since there are more of these things taking up landfill space
than Atari 2600 “E.T.” cartridges, and it’d be nice to find a use for them.
If you’re a PC user, I’m afraid you’re on your own. Since I don’t have a
PC, I can’t tell you how well the USB spinner works on it, nor how well
the serial or PS/2 versions of the Kensington ValuMouse would work.
I don’t want to make a recommendation on something unless I’ve had
Left - Kensington USB 3 Button ValuMouse
the chance to personally test it out. Sorry.
Right - Umax SuperMac Mouse
Frequently asked questions
Believe it or not, I’m already getting a lot of questions regarding this project, and that’s just from an early version of
this guide that I posted up. Must be a lot of Tempest junkies out there.
Q. Are you going to build these and sell them?
A. Only on a very limited basis. I’ll probably limit the orders to four per month, just to be manageable.
Q. Have you considered using Happ (or other) optical parts, instead of a mouse?
A. One of the goals for this project, was to build it using no commercial arcade parts. I wanted to be able to pick
everything up at local stores. However, I will be testing out some parts from Happ, to see how well they work with the
basic Cheep Spinner design. If it’s successful, I’ll create a separate guide detailing that project. Keep in mind though,
that it will cost considerably more to build than this one does. At least double. The benefit would be easier construction.
Q. Can you hook up a steering wheel to it?
A. I haven’t tried it, but I would assume you could just screw a Frisbee onto the knob for a Cheep Steering Wheel.
Q. What about Discs of Tron? Can you make a multi-position spinner like that one?
A. You never know...
4
Tools you’ll need
1. You will need a soldering iron. You need one with a small tip, around
1 15 - 30 watts, so you won’t overcook anything. Don’t use one of those big
soldering guns, they’ll just melt everything. Radio Shack sells a bunch of
different ones - if you don’t plan on doing much of this type of work, pretty
much any cheap one will do. If you’re going to be doing a lot of soldering,
2
it’s worth investing in a good one. I use a Hakko 907 with a variable
temperature control. Weller also makes good soldering irons.
2. You need either a desoldering iron ($10 at Radio Shack) or desoldering
bulb or vacuum tool. If you plan on doing very many projects of this sort
it’s worth buying a desoldering iron.
3 3. You’ll need some rosin-core solder. Get some that says for it’s for
fine electronic soldering or circuit boards (63% lead/37% tin). $2.99
4
4. Tweezers. Either small spring-loaded tweezers or a clip-on heat sink,
to clamp wires in place while soldering. Locking forceps should also work.
5 6 7 5. Some electrical tape is also needed for this project. Again, you won’t
need much.
6. Wire cutters. A good set of flush-cutting wire cutters (aka nippers).
$3.99 at Radio Shack.
7. Wire stripper. Nothing fancy. $2.99 at Radio Shack
8. Hammer (for using the centerpunch, and flattening out
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unruly pieces of metal)
9. Marking pen (fine point - must write on metal)
10. Centerpunch
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11. Drill bits: 3/32”, 9/64”, 5/32”, 1/4”
12. 3/4” hole saw (must be able to cut through metal) - this
will cost about $20 ($13.50 for the mandrel, $7 for the saw).
However, you can reuse the mandrel with other size hole
saws, which you’ll need if you ever build any projects with
10 11 12 13 14 15
arcade buttons.
13. Adjustable wrench (4” or 6”) $6.63 for a 4” wrench
14. Narrow needlenose pliers
15. Scratch awl (or just file down an old screwdriver)
16 16. Phillips screwdriver
17. Flat screwdriver
17
18. Drill. Preferably a variable speed, reversible
model. You’ll be drilling through plastic, steel, brass 19
and brittle circuit board material. It will also need to
have a chuck large enough for the hole saw.
18
19. Vice. I picked this one up for $10.63 at Home
Depot. You’ll need this for holding metal while drilling
through it. It’s much safer than trying to steady it
with your hands.
5
Tools you’ll need
(continued)
20. Files. You should have a flat file, and a small round one.
Used for cleaning the rough edges off cuts and holes.
21. Single edged razor blade. Don’t use a double-edged one,
20
since you can’t grip them safely, and they’re too flexible.
21 22 22. Utility knife. Make sure you have a fresh blade installed.
This and the razor blade will be used for making the encoder
wheel (if using a Dremel, you won’t need this).
23 23. Razor saw. X-acto makes this, and it sells for about $10.
It’s extremely sharp, so be careful with it - it cuts through thumbs
very well. Use this for cutting the circuit board and plastic
encoder wheel. You could probably also use a hacksaw with a
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very fine blade.
25
24. Tin snips. For cutting the brass and plastic. You could also
use a hacksaw with a very fine blade.
25. Fine grit sandpaper. Used for cleaning off rough edges.
320 grit (or similar) should work.
26. Thread locking fluid. Comes under brands like Loc-Tite, Tite’N, and
probably some other ones that are misspelled. $3.47
27. WD-40. Like Tabasco sauce and Q-Tips, I think everyone has some
of this stuff in their home. Here, it’s used to degrease the bearings. Makes
a cool flame-thrower too. (Don’t try this at home, kids.) $2.98 (2 pack)
28. Silicone spray lubricant. After cleaning the bearings off, I use this
to re-lube them. You can use WD-40 too, but this stuff seems to do a
better job. Seems smoother. $2.97
29. Flat black spray paint. For painting the encoder wheel. $3.49
26 30 30. 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. You need this to glue the paper
27 28 29 pattern onto the plastic encoder wheel. You can use different glue, as
long as it won’t wrinkle the paper, or come loose. $7.99 for a large can,or less if you can find a small one as shown.
Recommended
I strongly recommend buying a Dremel (or similar) motorized tool.
This will save you a lot of time cutting and sanding. You can pick
up a starter kit for around $40 (avoid the rechargeable ones). The
reinforced cutting discs alone are worth having one - so make
sure you buy some if they aren’t included. $6.97 (five pack). Ialso used a high speed cutter (#199) for the encoder wheel. $5.99
A few notes on the project
Most of the parts were bought at Home Depot. The nylon spacers, rubber feet and brass strip were bought at a Do-It
Center, but other hardware stores should carry that stuff, too. The Kensington USB mouse was bought at Circuit City.
This project assumes you know how to use a drill, a soldering iron, desoldering techniques, and a few other tools. If
not, check out a community college. Most should offer some sort of basic classes. I think Radio Shack also sells a
book on how to solder.
You’ll need a table or desk to work on, including somewhere to clamp the vise down. Since this project involves drilling
and cutting various materials, you might want to put some newspaper down if you’re inside, so you don’t end up with
stuff imbedded in your carpet. Good lighting is really important, as is ventilation when soldering or using chemicals.
It’s also not a bad idea to use a dust mask if you use a Dremel, since it has a tendency to kick debris everywhere.
Speaking of safety, be sure to read, understand, and follow all of the safety rules that come with your power tools.
Knowing how to use your power tools properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury lawsuits.
And remember, there’s no more important safety rule than to wear these safety glasses.
Personally, I would’ve thought “don’t stick your hand in the table saw while it’s running” would’ve been at least equally
important, but I guess Norm knows what he’s talking about.
6
Parts list
1. Mouse. Either USB (left) or ADB (right). The procedure is basically
the same for either one. Make sure the left/right direction works on it
- the rest of it can be broken. Be sure to read “How the thing works”
at the beginning of this PDF file. Some mice work better than others
for this project. The Kensington 3 button USB ValuMouse (far left)
is the recommended choice for a USB mouse. $12.99
2. Wire. I used some leftover category 5 (ethernet) wire. It has enough
different colors to keep track of the connections, plus it’s stiff, so when
you bend it out of the way, it stays out of the way. Also, it’s small
enough to fit into the holes on the circuit board. If you don’t have any
scrap around, you can buy the shortest pre-made cable you can find,
1 and snip off the ends. Any small diameter wire will do, however.
2
To the hardware store!
3. 3 9/16” round blank electrical box cover. Look in the
electrical section. If you can’t find this, they have octagonal ones
which should also work. Try to get one that’s solid (no knockout
hole in the center). This is the optional counterweight. 74¢
4. 1 7/8” rubber caster. The knob. There’s usually a series of
bins with various casters in them. Get the solid one, not the cheap
4 plastic one (but don’t waste your money on the swivel type, unless
3
you have to. $2.68
5. Patio Door Roller. Be sure to get metal, not nylon. This is
7 the bearing that makes the whole thing work. It comes packed
with heavy grease you’ll have to clean out of it, but then it’ll spin
perfectly. Look in the door hardware section. $4.97 (two per
package)
6. 5” x 3 1/8” steel tie plates. Look in the construction section.
These are used to tie rafters, beams, etc., together. This will be
the main housing for the spinner parts. You need 2 at 32¢ each.Buy a couple extra for practice.
7. .025” x 1” x 1 ft. brass strip. Any metal will do, but this is
easy to work with. This is to make a bracket to hold the optical
5 6 sender and receiver. $1.19
8. 1/4” machine screw, 3” long. The shaft. 78¢ (bag of 3 -
8
includes 3 nuts)
9. 1/4” coarse thread nuts. You need 3 for the shaft. Included
9 10
with machine screws from item #8.
10. 1/4” coarse thread jam nuts. Similar to item #9, but lower
11 12 profile. You need four if you’re adding the counterweight, or two if
you aren’t. 78¢ (bag of 6)
11. Nylon spacers - 3/4” long x 1/4” outer diameter (must be
big enough for a #6-32 machine screw to fit into it). 4 at 12¢ each.
13 14 15 16 12. #6-32 machine screws, 1” long. You need four screws, plus
eight #6 nuts and four #6 washers. 78¢ (bag of 4 screws - includes
4 nuts), 78¢ (bag of 12 nuts), 78¢ (bag of 30 washers).
13-15. #6-32 machine screws, 1/2” long. You need 8 screws, 20
nuts, and two washers. 78¢ (bag of 8 screws - includes 8 nuts),78¢ (bag of 12 nuts), use leftover nuts and washers from item #12.
16. 1/4” machine screw, 1” long. This is used during assembly
a couple of times. 78¢ (bag of 4 - includes 4 nuts)
Hint: If you separate the parts like this,
it’ll make sense later on.
7
Parts list
(continued)
17. 1/4” washers. Used to protect the encoder wheel. 78¢ (bag of 12)
18. 3” ABS DWV test cap. You’ll find these in the plumbing section, where
all of the black ABS plastic pipe is. This will become the encoder wheel.
17 You might want to buy a few, just to have spares. 65¢
18
19. Rubber feet. Any will do. I picked up four gray 3/4” x 15/16” rubber
bumpers that have a screw through the center to hold them on. $1.23
Optional parts
19 You can use any knob that can be secured to a 1/4” shaft. Just buy a piece
of 1/4” threaded rod instead of item #8, and cut it to length.
If you can’t find the spacers shown in #11, you can use four stacks of six #6washers instead (24 washers total). You’ll probably want to glue them
together, so they’re easier to put in place. 78¢ (bag of 30)
For the encoder wheel, any 3” sturdy plastic disc will do. I used the ABS cap
so you’ll know there’s something specific that will work.
On to Radio Shack
20. Printed circuit board. Be sure it’s the type where the
holes are separate from each other. Radio Shack part #276-
148A. It says it can be “snapped in half”. Don’t you believe
it. Cut that sucker instead. $1.49
21. Project box. The one I used for this is 6” x 4” x 2”
(Radio Shack part #270-1806). $4.39 This is the absolute
20
smallest box that can be used for this project, as described
in this guide. I used a 7” x 5” x 3” box for the original
prototype, which worked fine, and left more of a margin for
error (Radio Shack part #270-1807). $5.89
21
Optionally, instead of a project box, you can adapt this
design to work underneath a control panel. Please see
Appendix F for details. However, you’ll still need the
aluminum lid that comes with the project box (or just a flat
3 7/8” x 5 7/8” piece of aluminum) to use as a mounting
plate.
22. Tunes. Whatever floats your boat. Journey’s Greatest Hits works
particularly well for an arcade-related project. (They did have their own
video game, after all.) $13.99
22
Total parts cost*:
$38.47
*(Includes ValuMouse. Does not include tools, wire, or Steve Perry.)
So now that you’re all done shopping, let’s get ready to work and make
some arcade magic!
8
Building the spinner
Line up the two metal tie platesso the holes match. Put a markon each plate so you can keep
them oriented.
Take four of the 1/2” long #6-32
screws, and bolt the two plates
together. This way, you can drill
through both at the same time
and they’ll stay aligned.
Find the center hole, and draw
an “X” through it at a 45(cid:176) angleto the edge of the plate (on theseparticular plates, you can just
draw from one hole to another
through the center).
Clamp the two plates intoa vice, and drill out thecenter hole with a 1/4” bit.
Then, using the 1” long
1/4” screw, bolt the roller
to the plates through the
hole you just made. You
may have to move a
couple of the other
screws, depending on
where you put them.
Take a #6 nut, and place the flat edge of it against the roller,
along the “X” you drew. Use a centerpunch to mark the center
of where the nut is. Make sure the nut is tight against the roller,
and that you mark the center as closely as possible. Do this
on all four sides (circled in red).
Remove the roller, and use a 9/64” drill bit to drill holes at all
four locations.
9
Building the spinner
(continued)
Reinstall the roller as
before. Then attach
a #6-32 screw and
nut through each of
the holes you just
drilled, with the flat
part of the nut
against the roller.
These should be
snug, and as you
tighten the screws,
the nuts should lock
against the roller.
If it’s too tight,
slightly ream out
one of the small
holes, and try again
until all four fit.
Remove the roller
again. Use the 3/4” holesaw to drill out thecenter hole. Let the saw
do the work - don’t
force it into the metal.
Once that’s done,
unbolt the plates, and
file down any rough
edges.
Note: If mounting the Cheep Spinner in a control panel,
skip ahead to Appendix F. Otherwise, continue here.
Line up one of the plates onto the lid of your project box.
If you’re using the small project box listed in the Parts
section, be sure this is as close to being centered as
possible - there’s almost no room to spare inside.
Use the 9/64” bit to drill holes at all four corners
of the plates (use the holes in the plates as a
guide). As you drill each hole, put a #6-32 screw
through it to keep the plate from moving around.
10